BACK ON TOP: General Motors reclaims world’s biggest carmaker title two years after emerging from bankruptcy

GENERAL Motors (GM) reclaimed its title as the world’s biggest carmaker, successfully emerging from its 2009 bankruptcy woes to overtake Volkswagen (VW) and Toyota Motor in the race to the top.

The US giant sold 9.03 million vehicles globally in 2011, up 7.6 percent from a year ago, as it cashed in on a recovery in the North American market, which delivered an 11.4-percent sales jump to 2.9 million. The carmaker also posted strong results elsewhere, with European sales up 4.4 percent and 3.9 percent in South America.

Its best-selling marque, Chevrolet, posted record sales of 4.75 million units, making up almost half of the global total.

The results marked GM’s sharp U-turn from near demise in 2008, when the global financial crisis forced it to turn to the US government for a bailout. In June 2009, it filed for bankruptcy, which allowed it to change labor contracts and dump brands, dealers, workers and plants. It emerged from bankruptcy much leaner and more focused, and in November last year returned to the stock exchange in a share offering that raised a massive $23.1 billion, helping it to pay back half of its government debt.

As GM’s fate began to change for the better, Toyota, which had roared ahead during GM’s difficult years to take top spot among the world’s biggest carmakers, began to see woes piling up. In the last two years, the Japanese giant suffered the double whammy of massive vehicle recalls and then March 2011’s devastating earthquake and tsunami in its home country. Floods in Thailand at 2011’s end added to its problems as factories in its key Southeast Asian manufacturing base were disrupted.

As a result, Toyota’s 2011 sales, including for luxury brand Lexus, fell to seven million units, down 6 percent, according to data released at the end of December. Including the Hino and Daihatsu units, Toyota’s overall sales came in at 7.9 million units.

For its part, VW, which owns brands Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini, said it sold 8.16 million vehicles during the year, up 14 percent from 2010.

But Toyota is planning to give both its rivals a run for their money, with a sales target for Toyota and Lexus vehicles of 8.48 million vehicles in 2012 and nearly nine million by 2013.